A special Christmas

This past few days have been wonderful for me inasmuch as my mother and brother have been together with me for the first time in four years. My brother during this period has lived in Singapore, Frankfurt am Main and Norman, Oklahoma working at various universities in subjects such as Asian Studies.

My brother had been home for ten days – after I had a terrible lockout which cost me $165 to get a locksmith and tired me out severely in a manner that is not good when the hot weather is coming – before Mummy came home and she said – rightly – that I was not nearly enthusiastic enough about seeing her return from Xī‘ān, but I forgave her for this swiftly.

I was very, very late in getting Mummy the bike, but experience buying my own bike a couple of months ago compensated for this delay quite well and consequently I was able to make a good decision. Once I had decided,  I called Mummy who was very excited, and even more so yesterday when I bought the bicycle home for her to see – though minus lock and helmet, which my brother bought soon after as we settled at home.

This is my mother’s new bicycle. It is the most expensive gift I have ever bought at $850 including helmet, panniers and lock, but it is one I had promised Mummy before Christmas and though about for a long time.

Today, we had a lovely Christmas dimmer – stuffed chicken, pork, beans and roast potato, along with a potato salad. I previously disliked potato salad, but seriously enjoyed this one totally. then there was a rally good Christmas cake and ice cream, which is very bad for my mass which has ballooned to over 130 kilograms or 20 stone on the old scale, but has made me feel much more “full” than I have in past years.

Comapred to recent Christmases, most of which have been spent in Singapore’s awful climate, this is the best I have had for a long time and Mummy talked at dinner about memories of which I – despite having a very good memory for most things – could not recall a thing about.